Venue: NYU Bronfman Center NYU Bronfman Center

Halacha:

Aveilut,  Death and Burial,  Medical Ethics,  Medicine 

Collections: R' Joe Wolfson Aveilut

Description

The halacha prohibits us from deriving benefit from a dead person's body. This was a simple enough rule for many years, until in the 18th Century the Nodeh B'Yehuda was asked about using dead bodies for medical research. Does piku'ach nefesh - saving life - trump the prohibition of benefit from the dead, even when no life is being immediately saved? The Nodeh B'Yehuda's response and that of many poskim in his wake provide a fascinating window into the interaction of the halacha and modern science.